🧠 Feel our Feelings Feed our Hunger 🍎#allemotionsareok

On this journey, I’ve learned my emotional health and physical health are deeply connected. If you’ve been walking this walk with me awhile, you may recall previous Whisper articles dedicated to my Emotional Health with attention and intention. More often than not, when I am feeling very emotional, I tell myself this line:

All emotions are ok. It’s how you cope with them

I first heard the quote “feel emotions, feed hunger” from the book “Healthy Eating God’s Way by Cathie Morenzie. Although I had many disagreements with some of the content, this chapter was very moving.

Emotional Eating

The Mayo Clinic describes Emotional Eating as:

Eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness.

Major life events or, more commonly, the hassles of daily life can trigger negative emotions that lead to emotional eating and disrupt your weight-loss efforts. These triggers might include:

• Relationship conflicts
• Work or other stressors
• Fatigue
• Financial pressures
• Health problems

Although some people eat less in the face of strong emotions, if you’re in emotional distress you might turn to impulsive eating, quickly consuming whatever’s convenient without enjoyment.

In fact, your emotions can become so tied to your eating habits that you automatically reach for a treat whenever you’re angry or stressed without thinking about what you’re doing.

✋🏾 Yup raising my hand. Until I did the WERK, and really started to lean into my emotions, emotional eating was almost automatic. I paid attention to the meal, or snack rather than the emotion I was trying to avoid. Avoidance is real, and can show up unconciously when we’re not paying attention.

One of the most powerful tools I’ve used in separating hunger and emotions is routine eating.

When I stick to a schedule of eating, I know in between meals an urge to reach for snacks, may just be a triggered emotion. Here’s a sample eating routine I use:

“When I started to do deep care for my emotions, I realized I had other coping mechanisms instead of food. I began eating for nourishment, and letting my emotions feel. Because all emotions are ok, it’s how we cope is what makes the difference”.

😕😡😢🫨 Ways to Nourish our Emotions

Feeling our feelings means:

• Naming the emotion (I’m overwhelmed, lonely, anxious)
• Allowing it without judgment
• Choosing a response instead of reacting

Examples:

• Taking a walk after a hard meeting
• Journaling or praying
• Calling a friend
• Sitting quietly with discomfort instead of numbing it

This is emotional nourishment.

🍽️ Ways to Feed Our Hunger

Hunger is a biological signal, not a moral failure.

True physical hunger shows up as:

• Stomach growling
• Low energy
• Headaches or irritability
• Difficulty focusing

Feeding hunger means:

• Eating enough
• Eating routinely
• Choosing foods that satisfy and sustain (protein, fiber, fats)

Ignoring hunger often leads to:

• Overeating later
• Blood sugar swings
• Guilt cycles

This is physical nourishment

🌱 A Gentle Reframe When we learn to do both well, food becomes a source of connection and healing, not control.

🌱 When to Seek Help?

If you’ve tried self-help options but you still can’t control emotional eating, consider therapy with a mental health professional. Therapy can help you understand why you eat emotionally and learn coping skills. Therapy can also help you discover whether you have an eating disorder, which can be connected to emotional eating. The Mayo Clinic offers some really great resources in better understanding when it’s time.

We are all in this together. Yes, cooking, spices, and all the things matter when you are trying to eat healthy. We must balances those things, with the emotional side as well. That is how we create better balance and good long-term health!

Happy Eating, and Feeling Friends!

J

Healthy eating self-love